Square Foot Gardening with Steve Bartholomew | Central Texas Gardener

Why is Mel Bartholomew’s innovative square foot gardening concept so valuable today?
Son Steve Bartholomew from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation joined host John Hart Asher to explain why his dad developed the concept, what they are, how to create them, and why they’re so productive.

[@tonysandvig1478]

In high school, I would practically run home at the end of the day so I wouldn't miss a single minute of Square Foot Gardening with Mel Bartholomew. I was drawn to his show for some reason. On the one hand, I was listening to death metal music and going in the teachers' lounge and smoking their cigarettes, and the other was Mel and his show. I've always remembered him, and after all these years, I plan on putting his method to work for me.

[@rebeccasanford8607]

Greetings from East Texas! Oh the MEMORIES! I still have my original Square Foot Gardening Book from the early 80’s. First garden my kids ever grew. My daughter was barely walking… and picked ONE strawberry off her little plant every day for breakfast. Still remember twisting the Roma tomato shoot around the piece of twine. My son practiced his math by figuring how how many plants he could grow in a square foot. I miss you Dad. It was an Honor to follow his methods.

[@privateprivate1914]

I’m 61 and we just moved from CA to AL. We have an acre and I’m planting in raised beds that are 4 ft wide and perfectly set up for Square Foot Gardening (tall enough for me to not have to bend over later in life)! I still have the book (bought it in the 80’s) and have started several seeds inside! So excited to finally have this project up and going.

[@Acts-1322]

Pro tip: AluminumZinc metal raised beds will last the 30 years you're hoping for! Plus they don't have all those treated wood chemicals that could leech into soil, and plain wood rots quick

[@Acts-1322]

Incredible!! ❤

[@rebeccasanford8607]

I learned to garden from Mel’s original book in the early 1980’s. It was fabulous. I miss Mel. He was a Visionary

[@joylouise5417]

Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening book changed my entire gardening life for the better. Wonderful concept with completely workable follow through. Start small with one bed and expand as you learn.

[@squarefootgardeningfoundat5435]

You got it!

[@JM-lw6yi]

I wish PBS would run Mel's show again.

[@dandavatsdasa8345]

Many people have very little land for growing enough food for themselves. Therefore Square Foot Gardening was a great pioneering effort. Now there are all variations regarding gardening within one's means. There are people living in apartments that have little or no facilities to grow anything. Thank you for sharing informative videos!

[@roxannecarr8355]

I finally live on land to have a real garden. For many years I had bucket gardens. No matter what, homegrown was good!!

[@mssixty3426]

I have Mel's book. Great info. in this program - thank you!

[@marciar8909]

Thank you for offering up coir fiber instead of peat moss.

[@easydevtips]

I'm a gardening newb so I went ahead and bought the book, thanks for sharing!

[@christineferrario1700]

First book I bought! You won’t regret! I have an older version- 15 years ago. I grew square foot and vertical and folks were so impressed! Pass it on. I didn’t know he had a son that follows! They are twinners.

[@sheliaheverin8822]

My book was delivered today, I can't wait to get home to open it up. Starting my SFG this weekend. My husband swears that it's going to be too crowded and we won't have any yield. My gardening is trial and error anyway, so what have I got to lose?

[@jkljkljkljkl6164]

OMG is so much joy when you can eat your own produce, not chemicals involved

[@prisillaspace]

Thank you! Working on ours at home!

[@deborahfromdcspetersoncity9213]

Interesting video on this topic.

[@shriyaskuttyfarm]

Great video. Your New friend is here. Stay connected and stay blessed.

[@sandy-rr1by]

i'm planting in 5gallon buckets this year. can i use the sq ft count per seed per each bucket? or must i reduce the number of seeds? thank you

[@josephmusaka8607]

Great info here. What must I set at the bottom to avoid weeds emerging from the ground before setting up my square foot garden?

[@laurabartholomew100]

Remove grass before placing box on top. We recommend landscape fabric or clean thick cardboard. Some weeds will emerge from being blown by the wind or carried by birds but are easily pulled out when you have Mel's Mix your SFG.

[@rebeccalankford8573]

I was wondering about root depth with this method. Consider the root depth of plants and make the boxes according to depth also.

[@laurabartholomew100]

Roots need only 6-8" of Mel's Mix. Roots grow just fine.

[@michaelmiller237]

To expand on Laura’s answer. The roots don’t need to grow as deep because the Mel’s mix surrounds them with nutrition. Try to use vermiculite if at all possible, it can store different nutritional parts. I think it can buffer nitrogen. Perlite cannot, and perlite can float out after a string rain.

[@vickimitchelle1966]

I bought the book

[@anonymousanonymous7304]

Where would we get compost that is not prone to ecoli?

[@trishml8056]

Have you changed the growing medium that you used to recommend? There was only 1/3 compost and 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat moss which is no longer considered sustainable for growing purposes.

[@anonymousanonymous7304]

It works,, but kids could never afford the soil. I barely can. Vermiculite is expensive.

[@eugeniadiaz8357]

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[@azukarzuchastux8066]

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